The Father of the English Parliament

He was born in France, the eldest son of Simon de Montfort, leader of the Albigensian Crusade. After his father's death, he received the claim to the earldom of Leicester, inherited from his grandmother. In 1229 he went to England, and in 1231 his earldom was confirmed by Henry III. He became one of the king's advisers and in 1238 married Eleanor, Henry's sister.

Simon spent most of the 1240's on the Continent, fighting in Gascony to maintain Henry's rights there. He was about to go on Crusade to the Holy Land in 1248, when Henry sent him back to Gascony with unlimited power to bring order out of the anarchy of petty feudal wars and rebellions against English authority. Simon was skillful and ruthless in using military force to crush the Gascon barons, and achieved an uneasy order. In 1252, however, Gascon protests provoked Henry to call Simon to an inquiry in England. After a bitter quarrel with his royal brother-in-law, Simon returned to Gascony, only to be interrupted a second time by a royal order to terminate his campaign so that young Prince Edward (later Edward I) could take over.

By 1258, Simon was an active member of the baronial opposition to Henry III. At Oxford in that year, the Parliament broke into open rebellion against the king, declared him deposed, and the government was vested in the hands of a committee of barons, with Simon de Montfort at their head. Divisions in the baronial party soon appeared, and in 1261 the majority of barons consented to an unfavorable compromise with the king. Simon left England.

Once again, Henry III was unable to maintain control, mostly because of his fickle nature. He had driven his chief opponent out of the country and was enjoying a period of relative stability, when he decided to annul the Provisions. Immediate unrest ensued, and in 1263, Simon was back in England to assume leadership in the Baron's War.

There have been conflicting opinions from historians as to de Montfort's true motives. Some credit him with strong democratic principles that made him suspect to his own conservative class. Others impute to him an incredible ambition and a reluctance to give up royal prerogatives he had usurped. It is likely that there is truth in both statements.

In any event, Simon and the barons won a tremendous victory at Lewes in 1264, capturing the king, Richard earl of Cornwall, and Prince Edward. At that moment, he became master of England, which he intended to place under a form of government similar to that prescribed in the Provisions of Oxford. Due to Henry's stubborn refusal to give in, Simon ended up ruling as virtual military dictator.

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